Jesus Christ rose from the dead, conquering sin and death so that we would not be condemned to an eternity without God. Out of His love God talks to us, by His Holy Spirit, convincing us of our sin and our need for Him. All we have to do is look at Jesus with faith, and He will give you salvation.
I’d like to thank the choir for all the work they’ve put in to convey to you the significance, and the vitality of the fact that Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose again, conquering sin and death. The outworking of anyone who is involved, as we all are from our initial birth, with sin, is death. There are some here this morning in whom God has been faithfully speaking over the past weeks. By His Spirit He speaks to us. He does that for the simple reason that He wants you not to end up in death. When Jesus was with His disciples He told them that if they kept His commandments they would abide in His love even as He had kept the Father’s commandments and abode in His love. Jesus was the only one who fulfilled the commandments of the Father. He did no sin, He thought no sin. He was pure. The life and love that is in Christ is something which God is pointing out to you because He wants to change the decay inside you. That decay which leads, in the end, to an eternity without God; death.
(reading from Mau Tsi Tung’s book) He didn’t follow an ideology or philosophy. It was a life without God and it ended in death and self-pity. Even at the end he was thinking that someone was going to depose him. I have mentioned this because your involvement with sin, if Jesus Christ is not your Lord and Saviour, will result in death eternally. You can’t muck about with sin. The glorious truth of today is the fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, period. He conquered death by doing that, and took into Himself the penalty of sin. The power of sin in your life is broken. As a result of Him rising from the dead, death was conquered and life reigns.
There were ten occasions when He appeared to various people after He came back to life. He was seen by Mary Magdalene, then by the other Mary, then to the disciples, then to Peter, then to 500 people, then to James and then to the Apostles again as He was taken up in a cloud back to heaven. There was one occasion I missed out in that list which will now see:
Luke 24:13-27
You can now see in Isaiah a few verses which refer to Jesus. Jesus could well have referred to these verses when He explained to those two on the road about Himself.
Isaiah 25:6-8
He will swallow up death in victory. And now, here’s Jesus walking along the road pointing out all those verses which referred to Himself. As He spoke to them, they could tell that what He was talking about was true.
Luke 24:28-35
Ten occasions when Jesus appeared before He ascended into heaven, physically risen from the dead.
Here Paul lists these occasions in his letter to the Corinthians.
1 Corinthians 15:3-8
1 Corinthians 15:12-19
What he’s talking about is that if Jesus Christ had not risen up from the dead, sin would still always have control of you and me. The end would be certain death, an eternity without God. There are some of you here who are thinking that you have heard this so often and you are not sure if it will ever be true for me. God is saying to you that Jesus actually physically rose from the dead, that is a fact. It was attested by many witnesses. As a result of that death has been broken and life has been given, through Him eternally. The point comes when, by His Holy Spirit, God in His love and mercy makes that revelation to you that you need someone to sort out the sin inside you. The fact that you realise you need someone to deal with your sin is God Himself already working in you.
It is miserable without God because you try and fill that void inside you, but nothing can fill it. So you keep coming back to square one and you’re still the same. Christ rose from the dead so that you would be set free from the curse of sin. He took into Himself that sin inside you on the cross. He’s not going to force Himself on you, but by His Holy Spirit He’s speaking to you right now. I don’t care if someone is sitting here who has been here year after year and yet, for you, it’s as if you’re hearing this for the first time. I’m saying that it is not too much to swallowed one’s pride if we are talking about eternity. The Law of God still stands. You know and I know that you cannot fulfil that law. Jesus fulfilled that law because you cannot. The solution is simply to look at Christ. God has provided a way forward for all mankind, but He’s a gentleman and He won’t force the issue.
1 Corinthians 15:20-22
1 Corinthians 15:53-56
The bite of the serpent resulted in death, and the analogy is that the sin is the sting that causes death. The only solution to your situation inside, is Jesus Christ and you exercising faith. That means repenting of your sin and thinking about what it meant for Jesus Christ to go to the cross and to rise again. The solution is that when you set your faith in what Jesus Christ has done, you can have salvation. The Holy Spirit first has to convince you of your sin and of the consequence of that. The power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is the same power which changes people on the inside today. No wonder He says: “Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
1 Corinthians 15:58
At this point I could say, if God’s convicting you on the inside, come to the front and I’ll pray with you. Many of you would say that you’ve done that before and nothing has happened. I know that what matters is that the power of the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking to you directly, by His Holy Spirit, to get hold of you. He loves you.
Showing posts with label sin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sin. Show all posts
Sunday, 12 April 2009
Friday, 17 October 2008
What it Means to be a Christian (Part 1 of 3) - God The Father, Adam and Eve
What it means to be a Christian (Part 1 of 3)
God is three persons in one – God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. He created the world.
Genesis 1:1
John 1:1
When God made the world he made it good. There were no blemishes but something changed when he made the first two human beings, Adam and Eve. God clearly gave them an instruction. They could eat of any tree in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If they ate of that tree they would die.
Genesis 2:15
Adam and Eve were given a choice: to obey what God said, or not. They lived in a perfect world but they chose to disobey God and to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. As soon as they had eaten the forbidden fruit they knew that they had done something wrong. Their eyes were opened and they felt guilty. All the problems in this world stem back to this act of disobedience.
Genesis 3:6
We are all now born with a nature that can’t help but disobey God. It is a sin nature. You don’t have to teach a child to go wrong, they automatically do it. But ever since Adam and Eve first disobeyed God, God had been organising a solution to the problem of our sin nature. Unless we are set free from sin we can’t escape it. We always feel guilty for what we do wrong.
God is omnipotent – all powerful, and he is omnipresent – everywhere. He even named and numbered the stars. Even though he created and controls the whole world he is still very concerned about every single person.
Acts 17:24
Psalm 139:7
Psalm 147:4
1 Timothy 1:17
God is holy and nothing imperfect can be in his prescence. That is why there needs to be a solution to our sin. If God does not change our sin nature when we die we will go to hell and be separated from Him forever. Sin makes us unclean on the inside. Sin blocks our relationship with God. We try to amend our ways; we try and get it right but inside our sin nature takes our thoughts the wrong way.
God intended that that power of sin would be removed. God’s solution was for his Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross taking into himself your sin and my sin. When his life was broken, the power of sin in us was broken. He took it out of you into himself. This gives us new life. Life can be like it was way back in the Garden of Eden where you think clean and where you can live a life that is pleasing to God. That power that was taking you the wrong way no longer has a hold on you and you have the opportunity day by day to live right. It’s a totally different existence from when you were born.
Continued on 18/10/08
Sunday, 21 September 2008
Our Situation and God’s Solution
Just as Moses raised up the serpent in the wilderness, and those who looked upon it were healed, so there is a solution today for man’s sin condition. That solution lies in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
For quite a few of you, it’s true that you are thankful for the change in your life. Others would like it to be so, but it’s been some time since you’ve had the opportunity to respond what God has to say to you. Today, God is going to speak to you by His Holy Spirit.
I was recently talking about the global problems we find ourselves in, something which has been forced on all of us – the financial problems of the whole world, the inter-relationship of money. The whole world is looking on. How can we solve this problem? On Friday we looked at the global problem in Noah’s time, and how God provided the Ark for the continuation of mankind. In Romans 5:12 we see the global problem again:
Romans 5:12–14
From Adam, the global problem has been sin. And the reason you can’t align yourself in your heart and be thankful for the change in your life is because there is sin. God isn’t condemning you for that; He’s saying He has the solution for that. And in the same way that toxic debt can be moved out of the world and everyone is happy, there’s a wide issue of toxicity in the world – sin. And in Adam, sin entered into the world, and with sin, death.
Ezekiel 18:19–20
In sin terms, we are on our own. Each of us individually needs to be involved and come to terms with the fact that sin is inside us and we need that sin to be dealt with. That’s why you try and you can’t succeed. You keep trying and it doesn’t work. Why? Because sin has not been dealt with in your heart. The power of it has not been broken. You try, and things go wrong again and you try again. I’m not saying don’t try – but there’s a reason why it isn’t working. It doesn’t matter what anyone else has done – you are what you are.
Ezekiel 18:21
But if the people then were born in sin, they were sinners, so how could they keep His statutes? Well, they knew that there were procedures laid down, a lamb could be sacrificed, and its blood would save them.
Ezekiel 18:22-23
Numbers 21:4–5
God had just brought them out of the land of Egypt, and their complaint was that things were not what they wanted, and they spoke against Moses.
Numbers 21:6–7
Circumstances were such that they ended up admitting that they had sinned. “We’re ungrateful. We’ve forgotten what has happened. We’ve been complaining about everything”. Over recent months, you’ve got to the point where you don’t know who you can trust, or whether you believe in church any more. And the enemy of your soul has emboldened you in your thinking, and you’ve wondered what the point is.
I want to convey to you, via your intelligence, that the problem is inside, and the reason you ask what the point is, is that deep down you know there is something which needs to be sorted. You know it. We can all put on a brave face with one another, but you know it.
Numbers 21:8–9
There was a solution
There was a solution. Don’t say God brought the serpents so He had to bring a solution. No – the soul that sinneth shall die. He hadn’t misled them. It is the same now. The soul that sinneth shall die. That is where we are at. You had to get into a situation where you saw the serpent on the pole.
What if my only child was bitten by one of these serpents. I know that as a result of that bite, they will die. Others have been dying. What I have to do is to get my child to see the serpent on the pole. I tell him he has to look at me because he has to see the pole. Don’t close your eyes. You have to see it. I take him and tell him to open his eyes and look. He does so, and sees, and he is all right; he lives.
There came a point in time when Jesus came to this earth.
John 1:10
John 1:29
That is the comment you need on the strap line in the financial world. Not a new fund for toxic debt: “Behold the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world”.
John 3:1–13
We are talking about Jesus Christ, who was physically speaking to Nicodemus. He was talking to someone who had come to earth for a reason – for Nicodemus and for you. Why do we have to keep talking about Jesus? Why did it kick off in Bethlehem? Well, Jesus Christ came to this world to save sinners. John the Baptist acknowledged Him – “Behold the Lamb of God”.
John 3:13–15
When Moses was told to create the serpent and anyone who sees it would live, Jesus was involved with that. And now He recounts these same things to Nicodemus – “Even so must the son of man be lifted up”.
What was the mechanism in Moses’s time for them to live? They just had to look. The moment they saw the serpent, they would live. “Nicodemus – the son of man must be lifted up in the same way”. And we have here the emblem of the Cross.
And now we have the global solution again...
John 3:16–17
Does that mean the whole world will be saved? We have just read “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him...” Now we come down to it. If there was a pole here at the front, and if I could get you to look at that pole, you would change and live; that would be the way we would do it.
At this point, we’re looking back to the time when Jesus was lifted up on the Cross. He broke the power of sin in your life when He was lifted up like that. He was buried, rose from the grave, and conqurered death. The soul that sins, it shall die. Life in Jesus Christ is eternal, it is a life where the power of sin is broken. Your intellect is not ignored, but the message is quite simple – “Come as a little child”. If the son of man is lifted up, just believe. “Will that deal with the doubts in my heart?” Of course! Sin may grip you, but this will deal with it.
John 3:18–21
“He that doeth truth”. Are you going to be true to yourself today? Are you going to face the facts that you know are true? Are you going to admit that inside yourself you can’t do it, and that inside you have a sinful nature which needs to change. You know what you need to say to appear to be right, but inside you know it’s not true. You are the one God is speaking to you this morning. I know it, because He loves you. “Nicodemus, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son...Me”.
John 9:5
He’s still in the world by His Spirit.
John 12:28-30
What you are hearing is for you.
John 12:31
Jesus knew why He came to the earth, and He knew that the global sin problem which affects every individual problem had to be dealt with. There had to be a solution because God loved the world.
What did Jesus mean? That as a result of Him being on the Cross, of giving His life to take into Himself the power of sin, He rose from dead and conquered it, and the prince of the earth was cast out, and could not cause death any more.
That’s why in your thought life at times, one thing leads to another, to another, and it’s as though you can’t help it. But Jesus says, “Now is the prince of this world cast out”.
John 12:32
Whoever believes on Him… As a result of what happened on the Cross as He was lifted, now the work has been done and the judgment has been dealt with. What about the judgment on you? Where are we this morning with the judgment on you? Deep down you have been longing to get yourself cleaned out. God has been drawing you by His Spirit.
Jesus told Nicodemus he needed to be born from above. He’d started off in the wrong way and “You need to believe what I could be doing for you”.
In our situation we believe by God’s Holy Spirit that Jesus Christ came to break the power of sin in my life, and cause me to go right, not wrong. And in the simple matter of belief, it is as if you start again. Not kidding yourself. But it is His life on the inside. “If I be lifted up, I will draw all men to me”.
In Numbers, they just had to look. And here you look, and by God’s Holy Spirit you know that He has every right just to let you die, through what you’ve been thinking and doing, and you’re ashamed of it. He’s not here to expose you, but because He loves you He has provided a solution. Jesus spoke about Himself and the fact that He submitted Himself and gave His life for you.
What is your future to be? Where are we at? Is your future going to be hoping it will be all right because you know the right things to say and do, but you’re not sure? Or will it be a realisation that the power of sin needs to be broken, and it’s a case of you determining that you need to get this sorted out? Now is the time! “I was thinking about this yesterday. I knew I would come to this point in time. What do I do?” What I need to do is to encourage you now, not to think about anyone else. I want you to think about you. And if just one person responds, that’s brilliant. The global problem, the toxic debt, the problem of sin actually comes down to the individual. God loved the world, person by person by person, that He gave His only Son that whosever believed on Him should not perish.
It is not an insurance policy; it’s a different life, a life where you can be yourself and not play-act, where you can rejoice in what God has done for you – He’s broken the power of sin in your life and given you His life. That’s what He’s saying to you this morning.
I am going to ask a question of you on behalf of God. I want you to be honest, and I want you to realise we are not messing around. We are talking about why Jesus Christ came to this earth, and He is here for you. By His Holy Spirit, there are people for who today is the day and you know it is. I don’t know who it is, but I know what I was meant to say.
Are you going to believe in Jesus Christ and all He has done for you? Are you going to ask Him to change you on the inside? What does that change mean? It means the breaking of the power of sin in your life. It means you taking life and walking away from sin and death.
Sunday, 18 May 2008
Stop Fearing, Be Believing
In the story of Jairus, we see how Jesus meets our every need, no matter what assails our faith. His message to us is, “Stop fearing. Be believing.”
We need to keep our focus on the One who endured the Cross.
Why did He do that?
Hebrews 12:1- 3
If you don’t want to be wearied and faint in your mind, consider Him. We are looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith.
To be set down means that the work is accomplished. Jesus went through the Cross so that He might purchase, for Himself, with His own blood, the Church – you and me.
He was so careful to reach people. The message we have is to the unsaved of the world, to those who have no hope – and the message is hope, a way out, the solution to life, Jesus Christ, who is life. It’s not a case of having a solution for life – He is life.
There are three occasions in the New Testament where Jesus raised people from the dead.
Luke 7:11 - 18
This was an incredible miracle. The only son of this widow had died. And Jesus “had compassion on her”. It was so dramatic, the rumour of Him went forth through all the region round about.
Luke 8:41 - 42
There was no doubt that Jairus heard what happened at Nain, because the news went round all Judea. He was ruler of the synagogue, and he was facing a problem – his own daughter was on the verge of death. What would his thoughts have been? As a ruler of the synagogue, it wouldn’t have been natural for him to look to Jesus for the solution.
Jairus means God enlightens. In your life He has got hold of you, and because He loves you, He wants to reveal more of Himself to you. He’s so careful and concerned for you and me to know Him and to understand what it meant to Him to go through the Cross and through the Resurrection so we could have life.
I know there are people who have been thinking for years ‘this isn’t for me’. But circumstances are such that God has got hold of you. He is telling you that He is the solution, the way, the truth and the life. He’s adept at catching us – He wants us to focus on Him. He is the solution.
Jairus fell at Jesus’ feet and besought Him to come to his house. But as He went there were people all around Him – see for example verse 43, which Jairus witnessed:-
Luke 8:43 - 49
What incredible timing. Jairus had just witnessed the healing of a woman who hadn’t even spoken to Jesus. She had pushed through to touch the hem of His garment and received her healing. And as Jesus spoke to that woman, Jairus would have been so encouraged. Her miracle had happened. His faith was uplifted – Jesus can do the miraculous, Jesus is the answer. But, while Jesus was speaking, news arrived of Jairus’ daughter’s death.
Some of you have reached the point where you think that even though you’ve tried time and again, it doesn’t work. Yet you still come. It’s as if someone has been whispering, “Why are you bothering? You know it doesn’t work.”
“Your daughter is dead, Jairus, trouble not the Master.” Luke 8:50 But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole.
Stop fearing and be believing
What Jairus was told, in a human sense, was a cataclysmic end. She was dead. But Jesus is life. Fear not. Stop fearing and be believing. Some of you need to do that. It’s through the preaching of God’s word that faith comes. Perhaps, today, God is getting hold of your heart and saying, “Stop fearing. Be believing.”
Luke 8:51 - 53
“You don’t want to believe that Christian stuff. You know it hasn’t worked out in your life. God isn’t interested in you – you’re not good enough.” You may have experienced that scornful message in your heart. “How can you say that? You know she’s dead. The professional mourners are here already.”
Luke 23:35 - 37
Matthew 27:39 - 44
At that moment, Jesus could have thought, and that thought could have been actioned to wipe them out. “Are you going to rebuild the Temple in three days? Why are you up there, making out you’re something? Why are you going through that, thinking that somehow you will make a difference?”
What this highlights is that the Creator God, the one who created everything, humbled Himself as a man, came to that point when He was on the Cross because of you and me. So when those things were being hurled at Him on the Cross, He had you in mind. It wasn’t the person next to you. I’m talking about you – you, individually, were on Jesus’ mind, when He hung on the Cross to set you free and give you life itself. He loves you.
“This is pretty basic stuff.” But it matters. God wants you this morning to stop fearing and be believing.
But you say “I worry about money, my health, my job, bringing up my children. Will I be married? I’m worried about being lonely in old age. What career should I pursue?”
There are people here who came with a concern, and the concern has been eating you up and making you forget that you should set it aside and look to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith. Jairus heard the laughing and scorn, and he, as well as they, knew that his daughter was dead.
Luke 8:54 - 56
Her parents were astonished. I have talked with some people recently about how God has got hold of their lives and guided them. It’s always a wonder to me the way God organises things to get hold of you and reveal Himself to you. He is love, and wants that love to be in your life. He guides you.
Hebrews 12:1 - 2
The work is complete
With the writer, we are looking to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, who endured the Cross, despised the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. The work is complete. There’s nothing else to be done. Everything to prepare the Bride of Christ has been done. We’re in the time now where you and I and others who will come will become part of the Bride of Christ, the church.
Is He careful about His church? You bet He is. His church worldwide, the Bride of Christ.
He endured the Cross for the sole reason of making a way forward for you and me. And today His word for us is “Stop fearing and be believing.” Your circumstances have happened because God wanted to say this to you. “But I’m no good. I’m not like X or Y.” I know. He knows.
“But what will it mean for me?” It will mean the difference between light and darkness, death and life. Stop fearing. Be believing. He’s the author of your faith.
There are some here who have faith for the first time through what is being preached. He is the Finisher of your faith until we meet Him face to face. Don’t think this is too basic – or some arcane doctrine for the elite only. It is why He came.
“For the joy set before Him.” He had in His mind the joy He would have when He was seated at the right had of God and had taken our sin into Himself. “I’m going to set people free. I’m going to do what Father wants me to do.”
Hebrews 12:2
Nothing disturbs the peace where He is. It’s done. Nothing will hinder His work in your life.
And in terms of going forward in your life, I want to confirm to you ... don’t be afraid. Stop fearing. Be believing. He’s the one who is involved with you right now, because He loves you.
Tuesday, 8 April 2008
Holding forth the Word of Life
As Christians, we need to hold forth the word of life.
In the early church, God organised everything so that His word of life came upon a variety of people and changed them forever.
Acts 16:12 – 18
The damsel was a fortune teller and her masters were running a business through her and conning people out of money.
Acts 16:19 – 34
How did God get hold of that keeper of the prison? The keeper had carried out his job and locked Paul and Silas in prison. When the earthquake happened Paul and Silas had the opportunity to escape but they didn’t, which resulted in the keeper of the prison coming to them and asking what he must do to be saved.
God Knows What He Is Doing!
God manoeuvres things in the circumstances of mankind because He loves us. God knows what He is doing in the affairs of man. He knows what He is doing in building His church. He knew what He was doing when His son went to Calvary.
Philippians 1:1 – 7
God does what He does at the time He does it for a purpose. There is no template of how God operates. He is faithful and He is love. God has opened our hearts and our minds for that word of life to come and dwell inside us.
Philippians 2:1 – 4
These verses are very practical. The people of Philippi knew how the church had started and the miracle that happened with the earthquake. Paul wanted them to hold forth the word of life. They needed to be aware of what God had done in their midst. God builds His church in His way and in His time.
Philippians 2:5 – 8
The reason why Jesus humbled Himself, was because He knew what needed to be done in order for the church to exist. For the joy that was set before Him he endured the cross. He went through everything for you and me and forgot His own reputation. Nothing matters other than what is inside of a person.
From generation to generation God communicates His life, because He loves us. What’s the future for us and our children? Our future is to bring praise to the One who has given us life inside. Our future is to communicate to others and allow Him to share his love to others through us.
Philippians 2:9 – 11
He’s alive. He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. His life is communicated to people and changes them on the inside. We are here at this time in our life, because He wants us to hold forth the word of life that He has given us.
What Is Your Foundation?
Philippians 2:12 – 13
It is God who is working in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Our standing before God does not change because of the current circumstances in our life. What is the foundation of your life? Where is your trust?
Philippians 2:12 – 15
Across the world there are people who can’t stand the Gospel and so we are to be as lights in the world, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation. We are going to hold forth the word of life, and recognise what God has done in our lives.
What’s the future of your life? To allow God to work in your life and to be obedient to Him. The keeper of the prison didn’t consider that putting Paul and Silas in prison would result in His salvation. How are you going to react to a new circumstance? What’s your foundation? Where are you going? There are people who are just waiting for that time when God’s life comes to them.
Philippians 2:16
Are you going to hold forth the word of life or are you going to let a circumstance turn you about? You know the miraculous provision of God and how God’s life was communicated to you. God is organising His church in His way worldwide. He knows what He is doing.
He’s a wonderful saviour and the church is His bride. There is nothing that can prevail against it. He went to the cross, took everything in Himself and died to it, so that sin could be conquered in your life. You don’t have to live contrary to God, your life can change. There was a reason for the miracle that happened in Philippi.
God is faithful. He is true. He is all love. He forgives you and me. He has forgiven you and me. Why? Because He is building His church.
We’ve only got one life. Let’s go forward, holding forth the word of life.
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